My opinion is that of someone who has spent a year and a half inside the world of albergues, and another year and a half before opening a albergue but knowing this world, and has had to suffer things that I do not want to tell here and to fight against people and circumstances that I do not want to tell publicly.
I find the idea very generous, but quite useless. The only option I can think of is to donate to albergues that need it, for having a really worthy project. Only Rebekah Scott comes to mind, I read her projects a few days ago, and I admire her.
There is talk of municipalities. The reality of the municipalities is that they belong to the city councils, and a large part of them are rented to a person who receives it, pays an unknown amount a year, and receives all the benefits. They are therefore private, what is called “privately managed”. Increasingly their prices equal or exceed those of the private ones. The private expenses are much higher and they pay taxes, the municipal ones do not, and they receive aid, the private ones do not receive it. Municipal and donations may have volunteers, private ones cannot.
Among the donativos, you have to know them from the inside, because the benefits they get can be enviable, taking into account that they pay much less taxes than private ones, and that the rules that regulate their activity are very basic.
Among the private there is everything. Many of them are owned by people who live in the town, that the house is their lifelong property, the albergue is often just a new business, so they do not have to pay mortgages or loans, and the benefits that They get are, from what I know of those I know, more than enough to spend months. Frequently the wife runs the hostel and the husband works in something else, or they have a albergue, two hostals, a pension and a rural house, and all that in the same town, I know very well.
It is certain that among the albergues there are quite a few who will have a hard time, if this lasts more than two or three months. But we are not going to have a worse time than other people on planet Earth.
Only on the French Way there are almost 500 hostels, if I take the figures I know, a private albergue that is paying a loan to the bank, that has to continue paying taxes for work, and electricity, water, and heating bills can already reach 1.500 or2,000 euros a month. I do not include food, schools, clothes, gasoline, or vacations.
It is not reasonable to think of donating 3.000.000 or 5.ooo.ooo euros so that the French-only hostels survive three months. It is impossible. And unfair, because it is very possible that the most needy did not receive anything, generally in this life the one who needs it most is the one who does not ask ... another of the great injustices that I have seen for many years.
I have already learned how to remove labels from albergues. I have known too much. Now, for me, only the albergue that is capable of passing a strict control of Google reviews, Gronze, and other apps is worthy of respect, because there you can see the reality and the true human quality of a albergue, and there are quite a few albergues that are run by truly wonderful people, and most of them private ... And I know very well that there are all kinds of comments about a albergue, but when you read all of them, you can see a very precise image of reality.
In summary, what I have been seeing for months is:
There are very generous and fantastic private ones, and there are terribly bad.
There are excellent municipalities, as in Castrojeriz, and there are often unimaginable, because their reality is only hidden and does not come to the surface and there are wonderful donations, and there are some that are a business without financial problems, set up as an investment. And what I say is because I have seen it, lived it or suffered it.
There is a fourth category, in my opinion and experience the best, and that is that of private albergues that are owned by former pilgrims. I can guarantee that they are the most recommended. I saw it on my previous caminos, and I still see it, and hear about the pilgrims. Every day I listen to many personal stories inside the albergues ... and it does not fail, the private ones of old pilgrims are a guarantee to 100% of spirit and generosity. Or municipal ones if they are carried by old pilgrims, like Paco in Castrojeriz.
Since I do not want to demystify the
Camino de Santiago, I do not go into details or give specific names or places. I'm just saying that anyone who donates to someone with a guarantee like Rebekah Scott, or that they do it to albergues that are in Ivar's guide to recommended albergues, I have taken the work to read them all and they are all the best, in terms of effort and feeling for the pilgrims.
But even better, to donate, in the name of the Camino to people close to you, anywhere in the world.
The Camino will survive, some albergues, we too, will very possibly have to close. It is life, and life is often very unfair. But, while we are still alive, we can only think with optimism and a spirit of struggle and survival, and try to adapt to the circumstances, and the people of the villages of the Camino are not the ones who are going to suffer the most from the consequences of this crak that looming.